Rotary engine.



PATENTED MAR. 14, 1905.

R. NASS. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAB.14, 1904.

UNITED STATES Patented March 14;, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROTARY ENGINE- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,960, dated March 14, 1905. Application filed March 14 1904:. Serial N0. 197 940.

To (all whom it may concern: I Be it known that 1, ROBERT NASS, manul facturer, a citizen of Germany, residing at Thalkirehen, near Munich, Bavaria,Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to that class of rotary engines in which apiston rotates in an annular space, while the cut-off after the piston has passed is effected by means of rotary disks, of which a plurality are provided, as hereinafter set forth.

The invention also includes means for fitting the piston-arm steam-tight in the wall of the annular space.

In order to render the present specification easily intelligible, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference denote similar parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a central vertical section through a part of the cylinder and piston, as also the cut-otf disks, showing one form of embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the lineAB of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 isa similar cross section through the annular space drawn to a slightly larger scale and showing the packing-rings for the piston-arm.

The piston mounted on the arm f revolves in the annular space f, into which the disks (0 and 7) project. These disks are mounted concentrically in a suitable housing and lie face to face, the disk a being provided with an upwardly-extending hollow spindle a and the disk 5 with a spindle Z), extending up through the hollow spindle. These disks may, however, be mounted in any suitable manner and are driven in opposite directions by any suitable driving-gear. In the drawings these spindles are represented as being driven from the shaft w, which derives its motion from the main shaft of the engine in any suitable manner, the hollow shaft a being driven by means of bevel-gears a q and gears s and t, while the full spindleW is driven in the opposite direction by means of the bevel-gears (Z and 6; but, as previously mentioned, any suitably gear may be employed. The object of the invention is to impart to the two disks different speeds, thus effecting a more rapid closure or cut-off when the piston has passed. The difference in the speeds of the two disks depends upon the number of openings each contains, and if each disk only has one opening then one disk must necessarily revolve twice or more times faster than the other; but the'difl'erenee may be regulated to almost any degree by providing each disk with a plurality of openings or one disk with a single opening and the other with a plurality. The openings in the disks may also be of different sizes. In the drawings the disk a is intended to rotate at twice the speed of the disk 6, and consequently the opening for the piston indicated at g must be proportionally larger than that of the disk 6, as will be readily understood. For the same reason the disk 0, runs round every second revolution without allowing the piston to pass through--@'. 0., ineffectually-so that the piston will only pass through its opening at every second revolution of the said disk. Since the disk a rotates at twice the speed of the disk 6 it will be evident that the disk'a will begin to cut off behind the piston before the latter has entirely passed through the disk 6, so that a very rapid and exact cut-off is attained.

In the present invention a reversing-gear must be provided which also reverses the speed of the two disks when the engine is reversed, so that the same effect will be attained when running in both directions. However, the reversing-gear forms no part of the present invention.

Instead of two disks three or more may be employed, by which means the effect would be correspondingly increased. If a plurality of disks are employed, even though they run at the same speed the cut-off behind the piston will be more rapid, since the lowest disk will begin to cut off immediately the piston has passed it and while it is in the next diskopening; but the effect will be still further increased by varying the speeds of the different disks. It may be mentioned that in the practice it will seldom be advisable to employ more than two or even three disks.

The speeds at which the difierent disks rotate will depend on the number and location of the openings in each disk; but it will generally be found advantageous to make the disk rotate quickest through which the piston passes first.

A further improvement consists in the packing-rings for the piston-arm f, Fig. 3. These consist of an outer ring 7; Z in, having conical sides, and an inner ring .2, which is pressed against the outer ring by means of Wedge-shaped rings 01 c, which may be adjusted to and from the conical or inclined surfaces of the ring by means of set-screws with interposed springs in. These set-screws are distributed around the ring, and thus the packing-rings may be tightened up at any desired point without having to take the engine apart. The springs, which may be of any suitable kind, should be strong enough to properly tighten the joint, but also light enough to allow the rings to slip in the slot in which they are mounted. The packingrings rotate with the piston-arm f, which passes through a suitable slot in the same, which need not be packed, because the piston closes tightly against the walls in the annular space at this point. The present method of packing causes comparatively little friction, and the parts are consequently not subjected to much Wear and tear.

I claim as my invention 1. In a rotary engine of the class specified, the combination of a plurality of cut-ofi' disks and means for rotating the same in difi'erent directions and at different speeds.

2. In a rotary engine of the class specified, the combination of a pair of rotary cut-off disks concentrically arranged, and means for rotating the same in opposite directions at different speeds.

3. In a rotary engine of the class specified, the combination of a divided packing-ring having inclined edges, rings mounted in the piston housing and having wedge shaped edges to fit against the inner inclined surfaces of the packingring, and means for yieldingly adjusting the said Wedgerings against the packing-ring.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature to this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT N ASS.

Witnesses ULYSSES BYWATER, ABRAHAM Scnmcsmenn. 

